Various videos will not play on one server, but will play on another. Whats the issue? PMS on MacOS 10.14.2

General Discussions
1

I have recently started having a particular issue with video playback.

This is my setup.

PMS (MacOS on Mac Mini 10.14.2, PMS 1.14.0.5470)
All media located on a Qnap TS-853 NAS.

PMS (Qnap TS-853). This is my backup server.
All media located on the device itself.

Plex clients around the house (Apple TV’s, iPads etc)

The PMS on the MacMini is my main server but I have recently noticed that some videos will no longer play. I can’t pinpoint exactly which videos they are. It’s got to the point where I feel I have a 50/50 chance of picking a film and it actually playing. What I have noticed is that it seems to be films that have been in my library longer that won’t play. Recent films that I have added seem mostly to play OK. Obviously, I have checked the share is mounted on the MacMini and it would have to be or nothing would play. I have noted a few videos that will not play, and for reference, these will not play on any client from this server. So won’t play on web, won’t play on iPad or Apple TV from this particular server. If I try to play those videos from VLC on the Mac or the iPhone, they play fine. So the video is fine. If I switch over to the backup PMS on the Qnap, all the videos that won’t play on the MacMini PMS do play off the Qnap PMS. So I think I have narrowed my problem down to a specific issue with the PMS itself running on the MacMini. I just can’t figure out the specific issue. The only thing I have done recently is update MacOS on the MacMini to 10.14.2. from 10.14.0. Are there any known issues with PMS and 10.14.2???

When trying to play from the PMS on the MacMini, on the iPad, I get an error saying “Could not create playback session”. On web, I get an error saying “An error occurred trying to play [Movie Name]. Error code: s1001 (Network)”. On Apple TV, no error is displayed. It tries to play the video briefly but then reverts back to the synopsis page for the film. If I switch to the PMS on the Qnap, the same video will play fine on all Plex clients. And this is the same video file, same Qnap, same file location, that the PMS on the MacMini uses.

I have tried optimizing the database on the troubleshoot section on the web client for the PMS on the MacMini. I have tried replacing the PMS app with a fresh copy from the website. Restarting the PMS, restarting the MacMini, restarting the Qnap. Nothing is working and I’m kind of out of ideas.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

2

I really need help with this. Please can a member of the Plex team respond.

4

Thank you for the advise.

I have already tried restoring the database. I did use the oldest one available. It did not fix the problem. I I haven’t tried repairing the database. I will give that a go. Thanks for the suggestion.

Will report back.

5

Repairing the database did not work.

Not really sure what else I can do. I fully agree it must be a dodgy database. I know the content is good and play on another server.

I’m proceeding to dump the database and setup the server again from scratch. Hopefully that will cure it. Bit of a pain though and was hoping I wouldn’t have to do it but looks like I’m out of options. Perhaps the macOS update to 10.14.2 did something that corrupted it? Who knows? Could be anything I suppose.

6

FYI.

Dumping the database and starting from scratch has fixed the issue. All the videos that would not play before do now play.

So corrupted database somehow.

7

I have complained about this before myself and have yet to be able to resolve this issue.
I have the same issue as the original poster describes and it is only getting worse over time.

I have never really received any quality answer. I have uploaded my log files and gotten many tips and tricks of which none resolved the issue permanently. Its a shame as up to a year ago or so … I never had any issues with PLEX and loved it … now it more trouble trying to find a movie that will actually play than not. Maybe they will fix whatever this is someday.

8

Quit Plex Media Server.
Locate Plex Database file (.db) and delete it.
Restart Plex Media Server.
Re-add libraries.

That fixed it for me in the end. Yes it’s a pain as things like last added, movies and tv shows marked as played and all that data gets reset. But at least things work again properly.

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